They helped the CIA in Afghanistan. Now they’re suffering in America. – The Washington Post
Updated April 13, 2023 at 9:05 a.m. EDT|Published April 13, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
At night, as his wife and seven children sleep in their Baltimore apartment, the former Afghan warrior lies awake in pain, worried and angry.
His prosthetic left leg the one he needs after losing the real one in a 2017 firefight leans against a wall, the dull metal catching the moonlight.
In the next room sits the accordion file folder where A. Tabesh, 39, keeps the commendation he received for rescuing a wounded American CIA officer during the same battle.
He was a member of a clandestine U.S.-trained counterterrorism force known as the Zero Units, drawing backslapping praise from American handlers who called him brother and hatred from Taliban leaders who accused the group of war crimes.
When he got to the United States, Tabesh expected a heros welcome. Instead, his immigration status is in limbo, unpaid bills are piling up, and his familys new home is in a neighborhood plagued by violent crime.
Its been four days that I have been unable to sleep because of this hurt, this pain I feel, Tabesh, whose full name is not being used because he has relatives still in Afghanistan, said through a Dari interpreter. I lost my leg because of them.
Many of the 85,500 Afghan nationals who arrived in the United States as part of the massive U.S. evacuation in August 2021 are also struggling for stability. But the hardships are even more acute among the former Afghan special operations forces who fought alongside Americans and now suffer from battle trauma, according to nonprofit groups seeking to help those fighters.
As they wait on visa applications or U.S. asylum petitions bogged down in government bureaucracy, many struggle with depression or suicidal thoughts. Others say they would rather return to Afghanistan or even neighboring Iran, where they could at least understand the language.
With a proposed Afghan Adjustment Act which would give most Afghan refugees permanent legal status unlikely to pass Congress any time soon, former American counterparts worry about the fate of the Zero Units, arguing that the Biden administration is neglecting what was a key asset during the war.
The moral injury is pretty immense, said Daniel Elkins, a U.S. Army Green Beret who co-founded the Special Operations Association of America advocacy group. We know that there would be more of our community buried in Arlington National Cemetery today if it were not for our Afghan allies who fought shoulder-to-shoulder with us.
A. Tabesh and his family relocated to the United States in 2021, after troops withdrew from Afghanistan. Since then, he has struggled for stability. (Video: Joy Yi, Antonio Olivo/The Washington Post)
The CIA created the Zero Units early in the Afghan war, initially recruiting from among anti-Taliban militias for help with gathering intelligence and carrying out covert missions against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Over time, the units evolved into an elite strike force whose members hailed from various branches of the Afghan military. Not even family members knew what they did or who employed them.
The units were officially incorporated into the Afghan governments National Directorate of Security intelligence agency in 2009, though the CIA still advised the fighters on thousands of missions carried out with U.S. military logistical support.
They killed or captured enemy targets in nightly raids while protecting government-held areas against incursions an unyielding storm of firefights, bomb blasts and sniper attacks, with little sleep in between, that frequently left their members dying in the dark.
When the Afghan government collapsed in August 2021, Zero Unit soldiers collected U.S. civilian personnel and members of the NATO coalition from their homes, shepherding them through the chaos and crowds outside the Kabul airport while also guarding its perimeter. Some of them were shot during the confusion, by the Taliban or someone else.
The reason Americans got out of that country, the reason coalition personnel got out of that country, was because of the Zero guys, said a former U.S. government official with knowledge of the units, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he did not have permission to discuss the group. There are dozens of instances where they put themselves in the line of fire to save Americans.
With those missions, though, came reports of human rights abuses and potential war crimes by the Zero Units. In 2019, Human Rights Watch documented 14 cases in which Zero Unit soldiers allegedly tortured or killed civilians during attacks in Taliban-controlled areas that were based on faulty intelligence.
A CIA spokesperson said such reports do not reflect the realities of a war where the Taliban often placed innocent people in harms way and distorted the details of events. The operations included U.S. government oversight when executed to ensure that no abuses occurred, a policy that was strictly enforced, the agency said.
Whether the allegations were true, the groups image was tarnished among Afghans including in the United States and the stigma has followed the several thousand former Zero Unit fighters now in this country.
We are losing our minds, one former unit commander said, adding that the hardships he and his colleagues endured during the war are being ignored. People have used bombs and all kinds of things on us. Were mentally and physically tired.
Calling on Blackbird
Sameer, a former captain in the Zero Units, was living at a temporary refugee site at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Northern Virginia four months after the fall of the Afghan government. Injured, lost and in despair over what to do next after being stuck in the resettlement camp while a wounded brother was hospitalized in Bethesda, he considered ending his life, asking himself: How am I here now?
Then he thought of the former CIA counterterrorism expert he met weeks earlier when she visited the camp, whom he knew only as Blackbird.
Blackbird, whose real name is Geeta Bakshi, convinced Sameer to remain strong, saying anything that came to mind during a late-night phone call to help him feel he wasnt alone.
Bakshi, who helped train Zero Unit fighters in Afghanistan, was fielding dozens of such frantic phone calls from former members. She said one confided: There are times when I just think to myself, Just drive your truck into a wall.
After leaving the CIA that April, Bakshi founded a nonprofit organization aimed at helping former Afghan military personnel, calling it FAMIL family in Dari.
There are times when I just think to myself, Just drive your truck into a wall.
She said she saw the need for FAMIL during her October visit to Quanticos tent city, which housed former Zero Unit members along with Afghan civilians. The fighters told her their families were going hungry, while overworked resettlement agency caseworkers didnt return phone calls.
There were children running around without clothes on, she said.
With several former CIA leaders serving as board members or advisers, FAMILs staff of three and a network of volunteers work to help the former Afghan soldiers many of them seriously wounded navigate the U.S. benefits system, find English classes and develop new job skills.
Often, they serve as go-betweens with resettlement agencies working toward the same goals. But it hasnt been easy.
The Zero Unit fighters are eligible for special immigrant visas, or SIVs, that are reserved for Afghans and Iraqis who helped the United States during the wars in their countries; the visas grant them legal permanent residency and a pathway to U.S. citizenship. Yet many of the fighters still have not received letters from the U.S. government confirming their work essential for advancing their applications. The wait is a source of worry as the two-year clock on their status as individuals granted humanitarian parole winds down toward expiration this summer.
Still more fighters are stuck in a federal government backlog of visa applications and U.S. asylum petitions numbering in the tens of thousands caused in part by a staff shortage at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency processing those applications, immigration attorneys say. That leaves them ineligible for federal disability payments, other government services and jobs that require a green card.
The State Department said it is working to expedite the SIV application process for all applicants after adding staff to its SIV program. The CIA said it is assisting in that effort with respect to the Zero Units and others who have helped the agency.
Since January 2021, nearly 21,000 such visas have been issued, the State Department said. Still waiting for approval are 14,000 principal applicants and their family members.
Its frustrating, Bakshi said, about the wait. There is a lot of vetting on these individuals. For them to be in a waiting period for an indefinite period of time is very difficult. Its emotionally difficult, and its pragmatically difficult.
In Kabul, Tabesh would often sleep with a pistol under his pillow, in case someone learned where he and his family lived. It was part of a life undercover after the former Afghan government intelligence officer joined the Zero Units in 2007.
The fighters blended into Afghan society, to more easily tap into enemy intelligence and to know if something amiss pointed to a security risk for Afghan or U.S. officials in the area. But they were occasionally discovered.
That happened to Tabesh shortly after he was first shot in a battle in 2009, receiving a bullet through the chest. During a family visit to his home village, where the Taliban had a large presence, a resident asked about Tabeshs still-noticeable wounds. Tabesh said they were from a car accident, but the villager loudly accused him of working with the Americans. He stopped going back, skipping his mothers funeral when she died in 2019.
His fellow fighters, including the American advisers, became his extended family. They watched over one another on and off the battlefield, including the night in 2017 that led to Tabesh losing his leg.
His unit was seeking a top-level commander with the Islamic State-Khorasan terrorist group in Parwan province. As the fighters headed toward the mans compound at about 1 a.m., a sniper fired, wounding one of Tabeshs men.
Tabesh and an American adviser on the mission known to the group only as White, his radio call sign began pulling their colleague out of the line of fire, and the sniper struck again, this time wounding the American.
Within seconds, four more Zero Unit fighters were hit. But White was now lying directly in the snipers line of sight.
Tabesh and two colleagues raced toward the American but when those two were also shot, Tabesh continued on his own, crouching, and dragged White to a land barrier about 30 feet away.
He noticed while doing so that some radio equipment had fallen. Knowing that would be a valuable intelligence prize for the enemy, Tabesh ran back from the land barrier to retrieve it.
Thats when a snipers bullets blew holes through his leg and groin. Lying there bleeding, unsure whether hed live, he heard excited ISIS-K radio chatter over his earpiece and more gunfire. Then he saw a spotlight from an American helicopter overhead, which unleashed a storm of artillery rounds toward the compound. Tabesh destroyed the phones and equipment he had on him, then dragged himself down a small hill, where he was rescued. White and the wounded fighters were also saved.
Years later, Tabesh beamed with pride in recounting the incident, initially leaving out the fact that American military surgeons twice amputated parts of his leg in agonizing attempts to save it before ultimately cutting it off at the hip.
Asked why he risked his life for White, Tabesh said: Because we are a whole family when we go into a mission. It requires us to be like a family, to rescue our family members.
A letter written in Dari and English under an Afghan government seal commended Tabesh for his prideful bravery and wished him success and good luck in the future. Tabesh said that at the time he considered that gesture of appreciation his familys ticket to a good life in America.
I did a big thing, he told his wife and their children as they were anxiously preparing to flee Kabul four years later, reminding them of the incident. Theyre going to support us. We wont have to struggle with life.
We are going to deal with it
Tabesh buckled on his prosthetic leg and, thrusting his pelvis forward in a rotating motion, awkwardly stepped along a set of parallel bars.
One step at a time, Bakshi told him through an interpreter that late November morning inside a prosthetics and orthotics facility in Linthicum Heights, Md. She meant it two ways: the walking practice he would have to put in, and the new life he was living.
Tabesh had waited nearly a year for his new leg, using forearm crutches to get around, just as he had in Afghanistan after ditching a wooden leg that was too painful to use.
Often, he simply sat inside his familys apartment.
Im ashamed of the life I have, Tabesh said.
FAMIL made arrangements for the prosthetics facility, Dankmeyer, to manufacture a titanium leg for Tabesh after nothing had come from resettlement agency caseworkers assurances that theyd get that done. Bakshi learned that the $25,000 expense could be covered by Medicaid benefits available to some refugees.
I am ashamed of the life I have.
Because his SIV application is still pending after three years, Tabesh does not qualify for federal disability payments. His 34-year-old wife is busy caring for the children 9 months to 15 years in age but has been taking English courses in hopes of eventually finding work.
The resettlement agency assisting his family of nine had placed them in a three-bedroom apartment in Baltimores Druid Hill Park neighborhood, where aggravated assaults and armed robberies are frequent. After a neighbor was held up at gunpoint inside the building, Tabesh considered getting a gun to protect his family.
But they couldnt afford the $1,300 monthly rent. The $11,000 in State Department welcome money allocated to the family when they arrived meant to cover basic expenses for about three months was long gone. The resettlement agency had stopped paying rent to their landlord, leading to an eviction notice that Tabeshs two eldest sons had discovered taped to their door when returning from school.
With their still wobbly English, they pieced together that the family had 10 days to clear out their belongings if the $4,302 they owed wasnt paid. The agency has since arranged for the rent to be paid through state of Maryland funds but that program expires in June.
One day, Tabeshs 7-year-old daughter, Frida, came home from school crying after some Afghan schoolmates, apparently overhearing their parents gossip about the familys troubles, told her she would soon be homeless.
We are going to deal with it, Tabesh promised his child, feigning confidence.
See the original post here:
They helped the CIA in Afghanistan. Now they're suffering in America. - The Washington Post
- A future without women: Consequences of gender apartheid in Afghanistan - Global Voices - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Women This Week: Multilateral Organizations Increase Pressure on Taliban Over Oppression of Women and Girls in Afghanistan - Council on Foreign... - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Retreat from Afghanistan began as a farce, then it was a scandal, now it's a cover-up - news.sky.com - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- The Islamic State in Afghanistan: A Jihadist Threat in Retreat? - International Crisis Group - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Afghan nationals: have you arrived in the UK under the Afghanistan Response Route? - The Guardian - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Teen From Afghanistan Reported Missing in Tehran Amid Surge in Migrant Hostility - KabulNow - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Afghanistan: Young woman driven to opium fields by Taliban restrictions - Amu TV - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Afghanistan: An Open Wound Still Alive, in Need of Becoming a Nation Again - 8am.media - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Remittance Disruption from Iran Deepens Economic Crisis for the People of Afghanistan - 8am.media - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Retreat from Afghanistan began as a farce, then it was a scandal, now it's a cover-up - Yahoo - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Over 178,000 People in Northern Afghanistan Benefit from Special Trust Fund Support - 8am.media - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Russia becomes the first country to recognize the Taliban regime in Afghanistan - MSN - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Afghanistan-Pakistan trade grows to nearly 1 bln USD in H1 - Xinhua - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Afghanistan 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan: End-year Response Gap Analysis of Financing, Achievements and Response Challenges (January -... - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Afghanistan Taxi Drivers Resort To DIY Car Coolers To Beat The Heat: Works Better Than AC - MSN - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Afghanistan: Taxi drivers use handmade air coolers to beat the heat - BBC - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- 6-year-old girl sold into marriage with 45-year-old in Afghanistan; Taliban intervenes: Wait until shes - Times of India - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Barbie Battles Diabeetus, Angel Reese Is A Cover Athlete, And Afghanistan Is Open For Business - OutKick - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- In Cinema Jazireh, a Woman Dresses up as a Man in Taliban Afghanistan in Search of Her Son, Hope - The Hollywood Reporter - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Russia Recognizes Talibans Apartheid Regime in Afghanistan - Foreign Policy in Focus - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Shafiqa Jalali says she has a hard time sleeping, eating or going out knowing her son is incarcerated in the U.S. and is scheduled to be deported to... - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Russia Just Legitimized the TalibanWhat Comes Next for Afghanistan and the World? - Security Clearance Jobs - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Afghanistan Taxi Drivers Resort To DIY Car Coolers To Beat The Heat: Works Better Than AC - Times Now - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- 'Welcome to Afghanistan': Shocking tourism promo urging Americans to visit the country goes viral - Hindustan Times - Hindustan Times - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Trump dishes on Milley clash over leaving military equipment in Afghanistan: 'I knew he was an idiot' - Fox News - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Russia becomes the first country to recognize Taliban's rule in Afghanistan - NBC News - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Statement of the ICC Office of the Prosecutor on the issuance of arrest warrants in the Situation in Afghanistan - | International Criminal Court - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Following decades in Iran, 'there's nothing left' for millions of Afghan migrants in Afghanistan - France 24 - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- 45-year-old man in Afghanistan married a 6-year-old child: the Taliban's reaction was swift - - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Welcome to Afghanistan': This could be the most bizarre tourism video ever - Stuff - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- The Hairdressers Story: Exile, Loss, and a Forced Return to Afghanistan - 8am.media - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- ICC expresses sadness at the passing of Afghanistan umpire Bismillah Jan Shinwari - ICC - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- UN adopts resolution on Afghanistan's Taliban rule over US objections - ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Will Pakistan Be Next to Recognise Taliban Rule in Afghanistan After Russia? - Times Now - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Russia becomes first nation to recognize Taliban government of Afghanistan since 2021 takeover - CNN - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- India abstains from UNGA resolution on Afghanistan, calls for coordinated global efforts against terrorism - News On AIR - - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Experts: Russia Recognizing Taliban Rule in Afghanistan Largely a Symbolic Move - The Moscow Times - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Pakistan warns UN of escalating terror threat from Afghanistan - Dawn - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Tourists are trickling into Afghanistan. The Taliban are eager to welcome them - The Seattle Times - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Troops kill 30 militants trying to get into Pakistan from Afghanistan - Euronews - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Trump News | 'Afghanistan Maybe The Most Embarrassing Moment In The History Of US': Donald Trump - NDTV - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Tourists are trickling into Afghanistan and the Taliban government is eager to welcome them - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Afghanistan Emerges as a New Frontier for Adventure Tourism: A Blend of Promise and Challenges - Travel And Tour World - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Afghanistan: A Hidden Gem That Deserves to Be Seen Up Close - Vocal - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Russia Becomes First Nation To Recognize Taliban-Led Afghanistan - The Media Line - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Russia is the first country to recognise the Taliban government in Afghanistan - Commonspace.eu - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Russia Becomes First State to Recognise Taliban Government of Afghanistan - UNITED24 Media - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Russia becomes first country to officially recognise Taliban in Afghanistan - bne IntelliNews - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- The Unexpected Consequences of War Between Iran and Israel on Afghanistan - The Diplomat Asia-Pacific Current Affairs Magazine - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Russia is the first country in the world to recognize the Taliban government in Afghanistan - - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Sanctioned Businessman With Kremlin Ties Returns To Afghanistan - - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Pak security forces kill 30 terrorists trying to infiltrate from Afghanistan - Deccan Herald - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Russia Becomes First Country to Recognize Afghanistans Taliban Government - The New York Times - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Russia Is First Country to Recognize Taliban Rule in Afghanistan - The Daily Beast - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Troops kill 30 militants attempting to sneak into Pakistan from Afghanistan - AP News - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Taliban praise Russias brave decision to recognise their rule in Afghanistan - The Guardian - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Russia becomes first country to recognise Afghanistan's Taliban government - France 24 - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- News - Pace Thanks Troops in Afghanistan, Notes Signs of Progress - DVIDS - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Russia becomes the first country to formally recognize Talibans latest rule in Afghanistan - AP News - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Troops kill 30 militants attempting to sneak into Pakistan from Afghanistan - WRAL.com - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- News - Army Reservist to Receive Silver Star for Heroism in Afghanistan - DVIDS - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Russia becomes first nation to formally recognize Taliban-led government in Afghanistan - LiveNOW from FOX - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Hillsdale veteran Greg Whalen reflects on Afghanistan withdrawal through his music - Hillsdale Daily News - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Russia Becomes 1st Country To Recognise Taliban Government Of Afghanistan - NDTV - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- China Hails Russias Decision To Recognize Taliban Rule In Afghanistan; Will Beijing Follow Suit? - EurAsian Times - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Russia Becomes First Nation to Recognise Taliban Rule in Afghanistan - The Wire India - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Russia becomes first country to recognize Taliban government in Afghanistan - Trkiye Today - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Russia the first to recognise Taliban government in Afghanistan - BBC - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Russia becomes first country to recognise Taliban government of Afghanistan - The Indian Express - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Russia officially recognises the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan - 5Pillars - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Russia First to Officially Recognize Taliban Government in Afghanistan - - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Russia becomes first nation to formally recognize Taliban rule in Afghanistan - all details here - Mint - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Pakistan army kills 30 militants trying to cross from Afghanistan: Here's all we know - WION - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Kremlin's new stance: Russia first to officially recognise Afghanistan's Taliban government; will foster - Times of India - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Tourists Are Trickling into Afghanistan and the Taliban Government Is Eager to Welcome Them - Military.com - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Afghanistan: First-Hand Accounts Expose Torture by Taliban Intelligence Services - World Organisation Against Torture | OMCT - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Flight to freedom: A pilot's journey from the fall of Afghanistan to fighting fires in America - Fairfield Sun Times - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Building crutches, walkers, and stretchers from scratch in Afghanistan - Doctors Without Borders - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Russia to host seventh round of Moscow Format talks on Afghanistan this fall - Amu TV - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Earthquake of magnitude 3.9 strikes Afghanistan; third since June 28 - Business Standard - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]